Currently the Patriot Act is up for renewal. The House of Representatives recently renewed the Patriot Act. Now the act is up in the Senate and things are looking quite strange as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid backs the renewal of the Patriot Act while some Republicans want it repealed.
The main problem with the Patriot Act is that it would "allow the government to use roving wiretaps on multiple electronic devices and across multiple carriers, "get court-approved access to business records relevant to terrorist investigations," and allow "secret intelligence surveillance of non-U.S. individuals without having to show a connection between the target and a specific terrorist group." [1] Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) wants Harry Reid to "make good on a promise earlier this year to hold a full debate on proposed changes to the post-9/11 law, which empowers the government to find terrorists on American soil" [2] as he and other civil libertarians argue for the Patriot Act to be repealed. However, Harry Reid defended the Patriot Act.
What is at stake here is the civil liberties of Americans as it is a part of the US government's arsenal in its eternal "War on Terror," which is about as plausible as having a war on nouns. The fact that Harry Reid is defending an extension of the three major provisions in the Patriot Act and there hasn't been a peep from other Democrats reveals not the true colors of the Democratic Party, but also that their hypocrisy and that both parties are virtually the same. One wonders what the Reid and the Democrats would say if it was Bush who was asking for a renewal of the Patriot Act. The fact that the majority in both parties are pushing for an extension of the Patriot Act only serves as further proof that neither party cares about the American people and that both believe in the endless "War on Terror."
The erosion of our civil liberties continues.
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Endnotes
2: Ibid
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